The three strode deeper into the village. Along the way, Feng Bujue got an update from Hank about the Village of Heavenly Blessing. Flashes of Sword walked next to them without giving any input.
Hank was not a tour guide, so he did not introduce the culture of the village in a complete manner, but Feng Bujue was tactful with his questions. He cleverly led Hank to provide honest and accurate information.
The residential area of the village was roughly separated into four parts, and the part closest to the entrance was for the poor. That was where Hank lived. His only surviving family was his mother, who was in her fifties. She worked at the laundry room and worked ten-hour days for a pittance, with a day off every week.
Hank earned more from his work with the scavengers, but he had a chance of not returning whenever he went out on a mission. His father and few brothers were all scavengers, and they had all died outside the village.
The scavengers’ work was to scavenge for useful materials out in Old Earth’s hazardous environment. Exploring an old ruin was not a common mission; the most common mission for them was to locate, gather, and transport natural resources that grew outside of the village back to the village. These were mostly minerals, plants, and water that was within the treatable range of pollution.
With inventions like the anti-gravity gun, this was as taxing a job as one might imagine. The scavengers only needed to wrap up the things, ’lift’ them up, and place them inside the Shark Coach.
This job that did not sound that taxing was actually very dangerous. Even though there was little dangerous wildlife that could survive the extreme weather, the forest, swamp, and sea were all extremely lethal threats to humans.
The people who lived in the outermost circle were families like Hank’s. They received a miniscule three years of education. The first two years were for learning basic math and letters. The third year was to educate themselves on knowledge related to their future career. Starting from an age of ten, they needed to rely on their own effort to survive. All their lives, they would be doing repetitive and heavy labor or work that was extremely dangerous. However, as long as they followed the rules and finished their jobs, life was fine.
After crossing the first layer, then came the second layer, which was the largest. It had a middle-sized population; it was the agricultural layer.
The roads and architecture there were slightly different. The main crop planted there had the appearance of corn, but the leaves were not green but had a circular shape and golden hue. There was some rhizome that grew in the ground. The exposed leaves were brown in color, and they gave off a delicious smell that one could taste on the wind even when standing afar. Feng Bujue asked Hank about them, and he was told that they were Chew Rice and Sweet Fruit. They were the villagers’ staple food, and they were named by the ancestors of the village when they formed the Village of Heavenly Blessing. In any case, these plants were not present during the Old Earth period.
The lifestyle of the farmers was slightly better than that of the people in the first area. Their living arrangements were more comfortable, and the color of their uniform was slightly different. Each family was given a piece of land to cultivate. The production was heavily controlled, and everything had to be handed over to the village. No one was allowed to harbor even one extra grain of rice. The family income was dependent on the produce that was surrendered.
In comparison, their lives were not that risky, and the ratio of resting and working was not that demanding. Furthermore, the farmers had the chance to observe further study. For families with more than two children, they could choose the one with more studying talent to further their education, to receive ’higher education’. If they succeeded, then they had the chance to be promoted to the third layer.
The third layer was reserved for the technical workers. There was only a handful of them. The population number was maintained at around three hundred. The most elite among them were the minds behind the advancement of the ’public’ technology in the Village of Heavenly Blessing. The normal workers would even garner posts as engineers or managers, and once they were too old or lost their ability to work, they would become teachers.
The people of this layer worked with their minds. They had a good income and a stable life. Their single living space was larger than the living space for a whole family in the outer layer. The color of their uniform was white, and they had a higher social standing.
The fourth layer was reserved for the ’priests’ or the equivalent of royalty. Their houses were relatively luxurious compared to the rest, but in the Village of Heavenly Blessing, even members of the priesthood had to wear the same outfit. Only the family with the Corben name could wear whatever they wanted, and every villager knew them by name and face. Their portraits could be seen everywhere. The children were taught to memorize the miracles performed by the members of the Corben family from a young age, and they had to learn songs to praise them.
Priests basically did not have to do anything, and their lives were comfortable. Their tables were filled with food traded by the scavengers’ lives. That was a luxury that was beyond a simple villager’s imagination. They drank from underground water while the drinking water for the other villagers was from the ’treated’ water that was brought in from outside.
The priests’ only responsibility was to protect the God’s Child and to preserve the Corben family’s authority. Whether their offspring had this talent or not, they had a responsibility to receive the most perfect education to learn as much as they could. The smarter among them would be told part of the secrets reserved to the Corben name.
The managerial and leadership positions of all the departments in the village were manned by the priests, and that had been the culture for years. For some department, even if the manager knew nothing about his department, he could rule without protest because of his name. At the end of the day, there were assistants from the third layer to help him if he made any mistakes, and the assistants were not allowed to make any decisions without asking for the priest’s permission. If they did, the punishment would be severe.
The part beyond the fourth layer was the Shrine.
The first three layers had patrols. Even though the third layer had a small population number, it had the highest amount of security. Normal villagers were barred from nearing the fourth layer. Only those with the priest uniform and a special pass could enter, and one had to jump through hoops to earn the special pass.
The outside of the shrine was not patrolled by normal patrols but special guards. These were specially hand-picked individuals. Someone like Hank who was born in the outer layer had no chance of being selected. One had to be born in the second or third layer to have the right to join the ranks of the special guards. After all, protecting the shrine and the God’s Child was the holiest of task, and that could not be given to the lowliest of people.
“We’ll enter the third layer soon.” At the separation between second and third layer, Hank said, “We should stop here. The third layer has many patrols. If we’re stopped…”
“Keep going,” Feng Bujue ordered firmly. Along the way, they had been questioned by many patrols already, and Feng Bujue lied his way through breezily with the same excuse, but Hank looked like he was about to faint every time.
“Hey! Hank, is that you‽” Suddenly, a female voice called Hank’s name.